Egyptian judoka Islam el-Shehaby refused to shake hands or ceremoniously bow to his Israeli opponent Or Sasson and was reprimanded by the International Olympics Committee. But the media response to the story only touched the surface.
A search of Olympic snubs comes up with zero incidents apart from Arabs dissing Israelis. There are no cases of Israelis dissing Arabs, and none of Yemenis insulting the Saudis who are bombing their country. There are no protests against the Syrians, Iran or Russia, who are playing a key role in the Syrian bloodbath. Anti-Israeli racism is exactly what we see, not just at the Olympics, but in the Arab world's attitude toward Israel in general.
The racist attitude of Arabs toward Israel is the kind based on deep hatred that lumps all Israelis into one monstrous, violent people who don't deserve to live in our neighborhood and should go back to where they came from. Anti-Israeli racism goes beyond criticism of Israeli behavior. It gets down to the very personal level of refusing to have direct contact with Israelis or even be in their presence.
Arab anti-Israeli racism has far greater implications for Israel than an occasional Olympic snub. We can sign peace treaties and we can form strategic alliances, but those ties haven't penetrated below. Like the first black family with the courage to move into a white neighborhood, we can buy the property and make it our home. But we're not going to be a part of the neighborhood until our neighbors' attitudes change.
(Ha'aretz)
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